On May 18, by the decision of the court of the Central District of Minsk, the telegram channels “NASH DOM”, “NASH DOM TV”, as well as the You Tube-channels “NASH DOM TV” were included in the list banned channels. The reason for this was the materials of the GUBOPiK of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to the materials of the investigation: “In their videos and posts, the authors (administrators) called for participation in unauthorized rallies, mass riots, including those based on political and ideological enmity, as well as for the seizure of power by unconstitutional means and inciting social enmity between the citizens of Belarus and representatives of government agencies”.

In addition, the information products contain calls for action to destabilize the work of the Central Election Commission, obstruct the legitimate activities of government agencies, as well as offensive comments.

The GUBOPiK noted that the videos in these communities form a feeling of hostility, disgust and hatred towards representatives of government agencies, and also disseminate inaccurate information that causes distrust of law enforcement officials.

Now, for the publication (repost) of information from the specified Internet resources, administrative responsibility and punishment up to arrest are provided.

Let us remind you that earlier the Ministry of Internal Affairs explained the following points:

From now on, publishing or posting, including by reposting, information of media recognized as extremist entails administrative responsibility for the distribution, production, storage, transportation of information products containing calls for extremist activities or promoting such activities (Part 2 of Art. 19.11 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Belarus).

The Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the Ministry of Internal Affairs notes that rebranding of telegram channels and changing logos will not become the basis for excluding it from the list of extremist materials.

For more than six months, operatives have been identifying the distributors of prohibited information. Also, the police continue to collect materials, recording the facts of extremism, through other Internet resources and telegram channels for their inclusion in the banned list.

On October 20, 2020, by a decision of the court of the Central District of Minsk, the information channel of the Internet messenger Telegram – NEXTA-Live and the NEXTA logo (digital watermark) were recognized as extremist materials.

On March 17, 2021, the Leninsky District Court of Brest considered the Telegram channel “Brest: Rumors and Facts” and the chat “Brest 97%” to be extremist. On February 24, 2021, the court of the Zheleznodorozhny district of Gomel ranked the Telegram channel “Drivers 97”, the Telegram groups “Rechitsa for Life CHAT” and “Gomel: we are 97%” as extremist.

On March 22, 2021, the court of the Zheleznodorozhny district of Gomel recognized the channel “Punishers of Belarus” as extremist telegram, where “Beltelecom” employees detained last autumn sent information about security officials.

For half a year, the list of “extremists” included the most famous telegram channels that truthfully cover what is happening in Belarus: “MAYA KRAINA BELARUS”, #MotolkoPomogi, Brain of Belarus, BYPOL, as well as more than 50 telegram channels of Belarusian cities. Among the extremist ones are Telegram chats: “Smorgon CHAT”, “Orsha 97%”, “Novopolotsk and Polotsk 97%”, “Vitebsk South”, “Lida 97%”, “Baranovichi 97%”.

A complete list of extremist materials can be found on the website of the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Belarus.

The ICCI “Our House” believes that such decisions are an instrument of pressure and repression by the illegitimate authorities against those who continue to speak the truth, who care about the future of our country and those who strive for liberation of Belarus from the oppression of the authoritarian regime. The team of “Our House” is confident that in a free democratic Belarus such decisions will be abolished and freedom of speech will become an integral part of civil society.

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